MRS. EKAETTE COLLINS ONUOHA: Healing Humanity, Empowering Women, Transforming Communities

MRS. EKAETTE COLLINS ONUOHA: Healing Humanity, Empowering Women, Transforming Communities

By Dr Ini Adiakpan

Ekaette is an accomplished public health administrator, humanitarian, women’s advocate, political mobilizer, entrepreneur, and transformational community leader whose life has been defined by service, compassion, and unwavering commitment to human development. With an exceptional career spanning over 35 years in healthcare, public administration, and community leadership, she has become one of Akwa Ibom State’s most respected champions of grassroots development and women’s empowerment.

Mrs. Ekaette Collins Onuoha

Beginning her career as a Registered Nurse and Registered Midwife, she rose through the ranks of the public health system to become a Director of Health on Grade Level 17, serving with distinction across ten Local Government Areas in Akwa Ibom State. Her leadership in Primary Health Care strengthened community health systems, expanded access to maternal and child healthcare, and improved public health delivery in underserved communities. Her outstanding professional competence earned her national recognition and, in 2002, she was selected by the Federal Government of Nigeria under the Technical Aid Corps Scheme to serve in post-genocide Rwanda, where she provided critical maternal healthcare services at the General Hospital, Rwamagana, contributing to the restoration of healthcare services during one of Africa’s most challenging periods.

Retirement from public service marked the beginning of an even greater humanitarian mission. In 2014, she founded the Zoe Health and Life International Foundation, a platform dedicated to restoring hope to orphans, widows, the elderly, persons living in poverty, and other vulnerable groups. Through free medical outreaches, humanitarian interventions, educational support, advocacy programmes, and welfare initiatives, the Foundation has continued to touch countless lives across Akwa Ibom State.

Determined to preserve the wealth of experience of retired public health professionals, she spearheaded the establishment of the Association of Coordinators and Directors of Primary Health Care Nigeria (Retired) in 2018. Under her leadership, the Association has organised humanitarian programmes for orphanages and destitute homes, carried out health sensitization campaigns in schools and communities, collaborated with the Golden Initiative For All (GIFA) on social intervention programmes, and partnered with the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Justice and other stakeholders in the fight against Gender-Based Violence, promoting safer and more inclusive communities.

Ekaette has also distinguished herself as an exceptional grassroots political leader whose passion for women’s inclusion has transformed political participation within her community and beyond. As Chapter Women Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party in Etinan Local Government Area from 2016 to 2020, and subsequently as Assistant State Secretary II of the party, she championed the emergence of more women in leadership and decision-making. Her influence as a grassroots mobilizer extends through her active leadership of the Akwa Ibom Non-Indigene Women (AINO), where she has strengthened social cohesion and promoted inclusive community participation.

Her passion for economic empowerment is equally evident through her leadership within the African Women in Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP), where she served as South-South Organising Secretary and currently serves as the Akwa Ibom State Organising Secretary. Through mentorship, advocacy, and enterprise development, she has encouraged women to embrace entrepreneurship as a pathway to financial independence and sustainable development. Beyond advocacy, she is herself a successful entrepreneur engaged in agro-allied products and seafood export, connecting local producers to international markets in the United States and the United Kingdom and creating opportunities across agricultural value chains.

A lifelong learner, she continually invested in professional excellence, culminating in a Master of Science in Public Health Education in 2024, alongside several advanced management and leadership certifications. Her relentless pursuit of knowledge reflects her belief that effective leadership is built on continuous learning and innovation.

In recognition of her exceptional contributions to public health, humanitarian service, community development, and women empowerment, she has received the Excellent Professional Service Award, among numerous honours celebrating her legacy of selfless service.

Ekaette represents the rare convergence of professional excellence, compassionate leadership, visionary institution-building, and grassroots mobilisation. Her enduring legacy is measured not only by the offices she has occupied but by the healthier communities she has built, the vulnerable lives she has restored, the women she has empowered, and the generations she continues to inspire through purposeful leadership.
Join me in acknowledging a life of service,a legacy of healing and a future of empowered communities.